Recap Town Council Meeting - May 1st‏

RECAP TOWN COUNCIL MEETING – MAY 1^ST

At Tuesday night's Town Council meeting there was a Public Hearing on changing the Comprehensive Plan to change Gartley Street zoning from General Residential District to Diversified. The Open Door Bible Church had numerous members there who spoke in favor of approving this zoning change. The members brought out the importance of approving this zoning change to allow the church to rent the storage unit out in order to raise sufficient funds to build a gym for their students. However, the issue was never about the kids but whether or not the changing of the zone was legal. 

 I did some research and found a Superior Court Case DocketNumber CV-98-124 involving Old Town which after reading the findings I am absolutely sure the approval of the zoning change on Gartley Street is considered “spot zoning” which is a violation of Maine law. I presented this information to the council along with the definition of “spot zoning”.  “Spot Zoning is the application of zoning to a specific parcel of land within a larger zoned area when the rezoning is usually at odds with a city’s master plan and current zoning restrictions.” I recommended that the council table their vote until they had an opportunity to review the court case. However, Chairman LaRochelle stated the town had received a legal opinion stating it was not “spot zoning” and the council voted 5-1 with Councilor Mason recusing herself.

During Audience Participation of the meeting, I spoke on three subjects: (1) Why are we holding onto the Communications Center when they are performing a County function and therefore should be under the control of the County? The taxpayers of Lisbon are paying a yearly County Tax of $597,198.00 and receiving absolutely no benefits/service for this amount. Any consolidation of dispatch should be under the control of the County and the taxpayers should ONLY pay for the services received. We could save the taxpayers of Lisbon over $500,000 tax dollars a year if our communications center was turned over to the County. 

If the County decided to utilize the Lisbon Communications Center the town could charge a rental fee to the county for the spaces. Allowing Chief Brooks to manipulate the situation to expand his empire is just wrong. The town council’s responsibility is to do what is best for the citizens of Lisbon and spending more on this communication center than is necessary is a waste of taxpayers’ dollars. Keep in mind, the citizens of Lisbon receive no services or benefit for tax dollars spent on County Tax.

(2) I took the figures the town issued to the Public for the municipal budget ($8,033,639.73) for last year with last year’s school budget ($5,177,171.00) and added these two numbers to get the total 2012 budget ($13,210,800.73). The town charter (Sec 86-1) states the undesignated fund balance has to be 12.5% of the total general fund balance which should be $1,651,350. I received an email from the town manager stating the balance in the undesignated fund is $1,184,499.00 which means the town is SHORT $466,851.00. The undesignated fund is utilized to cover emergencies and to ensure the town can operate for at least six weeks.  

When Eldridge became town manager there were over three million dollars is this account. Where did our tax dollars go? I have tried to verify this information but every time I ask the town for the numbers I get different numbers so I can only go on the numbers the town published to the community.

(3) The reevaluation presently being performed is stored on a separate computer by Mr. Van Tuenin. I pointed out to the council the need to have redundancy of the data. Computers have a mind of their own and crash when you least expect it. I explained the importance of backing up the data and checking the backup for integrity in case we have to restore the data from a backup. The town has paid for this data and it needs to remain with the town at all times.

I left the meeting at this point because I have listened to Brooks lie time and time again about the Dispatch coming to Lisbon and its advantages. There are no real advantages. The only reason Brooks wants the dispatch to come to Lisbon is to expand his empire. The problem with this is it will cost the taxpayers more tax dollars than if they were to consolidate with Lewiston/Auburn 911. We currently are paying County Tax and receiving nothing in return.

David T. Brooks’ legacy is; "He will be remembered as the most corrupt law enforcement officer in the State of Maine." He has demonstrated this over and over again from covering up the loss of the $32,500 dollars to protecting his friends for violations of the law. Brooks selects which laws to enforce and for whom. A true law enforcement officer would enforce the law equally for all. In this country justice is for all. I am sure each and every one of you can relate a time when Brooks did a favor for his friends or covered up a situation.

Larry Fillmore

Concerned Citizen